Statement

Agenda Item 5
Review of progress in the elaboration of a comprehensive and integral
international convention on the protection and promotion of the rights
and dignity of persons with disabilities

SECOND SESSION OF THE AD HOC COMMITTEE ON A
COMPREHENSIVE AND INTEGRAL INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION ON PROTECTION AND
PROMOTION OF THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
New York, 16 to 27 June 2003

European Union

Mr Chairman,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The
acceding countries Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia,
Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia, the associated
countries Burgaria, Romania and Turkey and the EFTA country, member of the
European Economic Area, Iceland declare that they align themselves with
this statement.

The EU welcomes steps already taken in the international arena towards
advancement of persons with disabilities. While it is undeniable that
significant progress has been made, the fact is that persons with
disabilities are still unable to fully enjoy human rights on an equal
basis. That is why the EU supports calls for an international convention
to ensure the full enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms of
persons with disabilities. We view this as an important initiative, one
that will help to shape international opinion on the enjoyment of rights
of persons with disabilities over the coming years.

The report of the Secretary General "Overview of issues and trends
related to advancement of persons with disabilities" presented to this
Committee session traces back the progress made by the international
community in tackling disability issues in a human rights perspective
since the adoption by the UN GA of 1982 World Programme of Action
concerning Disabled Persons.

In the light of these past 20 years of international cooperation in the
field of disability, we have to recognize that the goals of full
participation and equality in the World Programme of Action, as well as
the new focus on persons with disabilities as full members of the
societies in which they live, are still valid.

At the international level, the United Nations system organizations
have been working hard to introduce developmental approaches to
disability, and the outcomes of the last world conferences and summits,
including last year Second World Assembly on Ageing, have highlighted a
new concern to address the specific needs and circumstances of persons
with disabilities in the frame of a society for all.

It is undeniable that considerable and significant progress has been
achieved as result of United Nations system activities. The most
significant has been in relation to changes in attitudes and perceptions
of the needs and expectations of persons with disabilities at governmental
and society level. And we all know that this was not an easy task. The UN
Decade of Disabled Persons has been a fruitful time frame in which the new
concepts and approaches contained in the Programme of Action have been
gradually mainstreamed into national policies and turned into shared
values. As it is said in the report, "a new understanding of living with a
disability - as something which could affect anyone in the course of a
normal human life cycle - has been shaped".

The Report of the Secretary-General 'Issues and emerging trends related
to the advancement of persons with disabilities' examines the implications
of this critical reorientation of perspective on policies concerning
population ageing, persons with mental health issues, with active acute
conditions, on core issues like accessibility, on collection of data and
statistics, on policies related to accessible information and
communication technologies and on development cooperation programmes of
the UN. All the implications in these fields have to do with the
furtherance of the equality of opportunities for the persons with
disabilities.

The special emphasis on the equalization of opportunities and the
adoption by the Assembly of the Standard Rules on the Equalization of
Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities in 1993 has provided useful
practical guidance for the development of disabilities sensitive national
policies, plans and legislation and allowed for the setting up of a
monitoring process. In this respect the monitoring and promotional
activities of the Special Rapporteur on Disability of the Commission for
Social Development have increased the understanding of the Standard Rules.

On behalf of the European Union, I would like to express our gratitude
to the former Special Rapporteur Mr Bengt Lindqvist for his dedicated and
thorough work over the past eight years, and on the occasion to welcome
the appointment by the Secretary General of Sheikha Hessa bint Khalifa bin
Ahmed al-Thani, who will have the full and firm support of the European
Union.

According to the findings of the Special Rapporteur on Disability of
the Commission for Social Development, the Standard Rules have been
recognized and implemented by Governments but there are also shortcomings
and a constant need for more effective governmental actions to promote the
equalization of opportunities. In order to strengthen the implementation
of the Standard Rules, the Special Rapporteur has urged Governments to
take further measures and advanced a direct dialogue between the Member
States, local non-governmental organizations and other intergovernmental
bodies. Concrete options to complement and further develop the Standard
Rules were put forward by the previous Special Rapporteur. We look forward
to the completion of this work by the newly appointed Ms al- Thani.

Above all, the Special Rapporteur has considerably increased the
visibility of disability as a human rights issue. In his second and third
reports, Mr Lindqvist, identified progress in the areas of human rights
and disability. The Special Rapporteur noted that the Standard Rules could
support the monitoring of human rights in the UN treaty monitoring bodies
and serve as a reference when various provisions of existing conventions
are applied on the basis of disability needs. The European Union supports
all concrete efforts to further mainstream the disability perspective into
the monitoring mechanisms of the six core United Nations human rights
conventions.

Mr. Chairman,

The European Union is committed to a rights-based approach to questions
concerning persons with disabilities. In 1996, the Council of Ministers of
the European Union adopted a Resolution on equality of opportunity for
persons with disabilities. The Resolution puts emphasis on identifying and
removing the various barriers to equal opportunity and full participation
in society of persons with disabilities.

Following the 1996 Resolution, the Council of the European Union
reaffirmed the Union's commitment to the principle of equality of
opportunity in the development of comprehensive policies in the field of
disability and to the principle of avoiding or eliminating any form of
negative discrimination on the sole ground of disability. This led to the
introduction in the EC Treaty of a general anti-discrimination Article,
which enables the Community to combat discrimination inter alia on the
grounds of disability.

On the basis of this new Treaty Article, the Council adopted on 27th
November 2000, the Directive 2000/78 on the establishment of a General
Framework for Equal Treatment in Employment and Occupation, which covers
also disability. With regard to disability, this Directive recognises that
the failure to provide a reasonable accommodation in the workplace and
vocational training can constitute discrimination. In practical terms,
such accommodation includes measures to adapt the workplace to persons
with disabilities, in order to facilitate their access to employment.
Rather than aiming to achieve identical results for persons with
disabilities as compared to non-disabled persons, this Directive aims to
ensure that persons with disabilities are offered an equal opportunity to
achieve those results.

Such an approach is also consistent with Article 21 of the Charter of
Fundamental Rights of the European Union which sets out the principle of
non-discrimination based on any grounds, including disability, and with
Article 26 which sets out that the Union recognizes and respects the right
of persons with disabilities to benefit from measures designed to ensure
their independence, social and occupational integration, and participation
in the life of the community.

Furthermore, the European Union has proclaimed 2003 as the European
Year of the Persons with Disabilities, with the aim of raising awareness
of the rights of persons with disabilities to protection against
discrimination and to full and equal enjoyment of their rights.

In two other important fields, research and data collection, and
promotion of non governmental organizations working for advocacy on behalf
of persons with disabilities, significant progress has been achieved in
our countries.

Mr Chairman,

In a recent meeting in Malaga (Spain) last month, the Ministers
responsible for integration policies for persons with disabilities of the
Council of Europe adopted new commitments in a Ministerial Declaration
entitled "Progressing towards full participation as citizens" in an
explicit recognition that further progress has to be made.

But the fact is that some of the human rights and fundamental freedoms
contained in the European and international conventions on human rights
are still not fully accessible to many persons with disabilities including
women and girls. Across Europe and over the world, persons with
disabilities suffer discrimination and prejudice when exercising their
rights to respect for private and family life, enjoyment of the highest
attainable standard of physical and mental health, social security,
adequate housing, education and work.

At the Malaga Conference, the Ministers took note of the major
political, economic, social and technological changes occurred in Europe
in the last decade and their consequent impact on the approach to
disability policies. New trends are emerging taking into account the
population ageing process, the challenges and opportunities offered by the
new information and communication technologies, the changing patterns of
employment and unemployment and the future of social protection systems.

Ministers discussed ways and means of promoting citizenship and full
participation of persons with disabilities by developing effective legal
and policy provisions and by implementing innovative approaches in service
provision. They set the cornerstones for the development of a European
Action Plan on disability for the next decade, based on a human rights
approach to disability and on a genuine partnership between governments,
social partners and civil society, including persons with disabilities
themselves.

Finally, the Ministers invited the Council of Europe institutions to
make use of their extensive experience in human rights matters to play an
active role in the forthcoming negotiations in the frame of the UN
initiative relative to the elaboration of an international convention to
promote and protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities.